when do wonga stop applying charges??

olivia84

hi there,

does anyone know if and when wonga stop applying charges??

for example; if you have a loan from wonga for £100 and you do not pay it on the promised date and continue to not pay it, do they eventually stop applying their charges? do they eventually freeze the debt or pass it to a dca or deal with it in-house?

can lenders just apply charge after charge after charge forever? are there procedures in place for, say after 100 days, charges are no longer applied and the debt is frozen or passed to a 3rd party?

i understand that creditors are under no obligation to pass the debt to a 3rd party but is there any obligation regarding charges or further interest, especially if the debt isn't responded to.

many thanks for any replies.

olivia84

....just telephoned wonga and apparently their systems are down and my account couldn't be accessed but the man told me that with a defaulted loan, after 60 days all interest and charged are frozen??

....wondering if anyone can clarify this?

(sorry to be a total pest at this time of night!)

FireWyrm

Why do you want t know? I'm sorry, but your post sounds very much like a case of 'won't pay' rather than can't and most people on here probably won't give you an answer. If you can pay wonga, regardless of how much financial dicomfort you experience, I advise you to do so. While many people on here are given advice on dealing with PDLs they are mostly in genuine trouble and being unfairly harassed. At the end of the day, you entered into a contract and morally you are duty bound to honour those terms.

olivia84

it is actually my dad's account - he was made redundant a few months ago. i was genuinely only after the facts about wonga's policy when it comes to adding on charges without going into a long long speil about the ins and outs of someone else's finances as i am only after advice to help my dad.

i was only after a bit of advice without judgement and i know that whilst people are very very helpful on the DFW board, many people like to know SOA's and things from people to try to help them as best they can - which obviously i cannot give.

i do have a wonga loan of my own but i have come to an arrangement with them regarding that, but as i said my dad has no income now.

sorry - i just didn't want to bore people with a big long story about the ins and outs of my/my dad's finances and i didn't think i had to divulge my life story for a bit of technical advice.

sorry - that sounds as if i'm really ungratefull for any advice on here - which is not the case - i just don't like the idea of anyone thinking my dad is a shirkless squanderer who isn't facing up to his responsibilities - but thanks for your reply.

olivia

x

FireWyrm

We're not asking for your life story, but it is not uncommon to get people asking how to avoid paying PDLs at all. There is an ongoing debate on these boards regarding the practice of PDLs, some people want to ban them all together and there is a danger of loosing sight of the fundamentals which is, money is owed to a creditor. Avoidance of paying is generally not encouraged, however, dealing with a situation not of your making will be generally answered. The truth is that the PDLS will add as much interest as they can, they will attempt to take payments regardless of the balance in your account, often leaving people destitute and generally make your life miserable until you do pay, hence the advice to settle your account if you can.

Tixy

Olivia - I'm sure I've read in the past people saying they freeze interest after 90days (maybe they've changed it to 60?, or maybe previous posts were incorrect). But they do tend to add on hefty fees first, from each time they attempt to take money from his bank account towards the debt.

Wonga (from reports on here) are one of the slightly easier pdl companies to set up a repayment plan - and will often allow people to repay over 6months or so. I would advise Dad to get in touch with them and offer a repayment plan, not just to ignore them.

olivia84

thanks - i understand what you're saying but i genuinely wanted some techincal advice about wonga's protocal regarding their charges; i just felt a bit like it was as if folk were saying my dad was trying to get out of paying his debts - he's not - to be honest, the amount he owes is double what he borrowed and he totally accepts this. it's just we didn't know if and when they would ever stop applying charge after charge so he knows exactly what he owes them and then can come to some sort of arrangement with them.

he isn't able to pay the full amount off in one go but he has e-mailed them asking them to accept a token payment of £5 per month, they haven't contacted him hence why he hasn't paid anything and we're worried the reason they aren't responding is so they can continue adding charges forever and we'd never know what the total debt to them would be.

obviously this token payment would hopefully be increased when he is working again.

sorry, i just really didn't want to go into the whole story for risk of boring people and the fact it isn't my debt to them - was just looking for a quick answer - sorry again - i just felt that because i didn't give all the ins and outs of the situation it automatically meant my dad was avoiding paying his debts.

olivia

x

olivia84

thanks tixy, obviously £5 per month is too little for them that's why i was wondering if they pass it to a 3rd party dca, although i know they are under no obligation to.

olivia x

Tixy

There is a thread on PDLs - might be worth a read on there to see whether others have found wonga has passed the debt on, or agreed to low repayments etc (haven't read it all so I'm not sure) - Dealing with Payday Loan Companies I think there are some different wonga email addresses on there, perhaps Dad could try one of those to make his offer again to try to get them to respond.

Smaz

Hi there,

This page might help:

https://help.wonga.com/help/payments/overdue-accounts/balance

"If you are unable to settle your account right now, we want to help by agreeing a fair and manageable repayment plan. As soon as we reach an arrangement acceptable to both of us, we will freeze all interest and will stop our debt collection activities."

I can't see any mention of a time when they will stop charging. After all, you (or your father) have an agreement with them to take out a loan that will apply interest if it's not paid back on time, so they will do so until the account is cleared or another option is agreed.

If you/your father haven't already done so, give them a call. I wouldn't trust just emailing and asking questions - who knows how many emails they receive a day & how many people they have to deal with them. They probably can't discuss accounts & personal details over email anyway due to not being able to verify the person sending the request. Discuss it over the phone, get it sorted there and then. They're not going to start shouting abuse or demanding payment on the phone, and they won't add charges to your account for phoning them. I've spoken to them once on the phone - they sound nice enough


You might also want to read up on their responsible lending information, see if there's anything there helpful to you: http://www.wonga.com/money/wonga-responsible-lending/

Hope this helps - and just pick up the phone. It's Halloween, but they're not scary

Wheredomy£sgo?

Contact them, speak to them! Whilst FireWyrm is being a little bit harsh, he is also correct! call them, tell them the story, they are obliged to freeze the interest on account (although not legally obliged, they will struggle to defend their actions to the OFT if they do not). Why wait 60/90 days? do it now, the sooner people face these companies head on, the easier and cheaper it will be be! These people only get angry if they struggle to make contact with people!

All they want, is it to be paid back what they leant you and a little bit more for their service, and as much as they argue, if your Dad borrowed £100 and now owes £200, they would probably take £10 a month for 20 months if he proves that's all his I&E can take and many companies would actually "settle" for less if he can find a lump sum to pay it! offering £140 would work I'd imagine.

The moment they pass the debt to a 3rd party, they are accepting they will not get all their money back. 3rd parties charge up to 40% of the debt to recover it, or buy the debt for 8p in the £1 and try and collect 15p in the £1. Wonga would rather take £140 now than sell £200 to a 3rd party with no guarantees of any collection!